U.S. Education Dept. looks at Swarthmore's handling of sex cases

The U.S. Department of Education has opened an investigation into whether Swarthmore College violated federal regulations in its handling of sexual harassment and assault cases on its 1,545-student Delaware County campus.

Rising juniors Mia Ferguson, an engineering major from Cambridge, Mass., and Hope Brinn, an educational studies and sociology/anthropology major from Wilmington, alleged in a complaint to the department in May that the college created a sexually hostile environment by failing to properly handle cases of sexual harassment and violence.

Ferguson and Brinn received a letter from the department's Office of Civil Rights on Friday confirming that it will probe the allegations.